On 23 May 2013 Frontex will hold the annual European Day for Border Guards (ED4BG) in Warsaw. Inaugurated in 2010 to mark the fifth anniversary of Frontex, ED4BG presents Europe’s border-guard community with an opportunity to share experiences and best practice, as well as provides a forum for topical discussion, exchange of views between key border-management players, and a platform to bring together the worlds of public service and private industry (http://www.ed4bg.eu).This year’s event will consist of a series of debates and a technology exhibition. The aim of the technology exhibition during the conference is to provide border guards with hands-on demonstrations of innovative solutions to the challenges they encounter in the performance of their daily activities.

Frontex therefore invites relevant industry and researchers to showcase their innovative products/prototypes during the conference day on 23 May 2013 in the following areas and as an answer to specific challenges:

B) Detection and surveillance
CHALLENGE: detection of persons attempting to enter illegally (surveillance)
– land small area intruder detection
– maritime threat recognition, in wide areas (EEZ and beyond) and locally (ports and harbours), concerning both large and small (fast) boats
– detection of humans hidden in vehicles/containers

C) Communication
CHALLENGE: solutions to ensure end-to-end communication availability
– interconnection of secure communication networks of border guard authorities from different countries (e.g. for Joint Operations)
– efficient transfer of high volume of data, including video and images, from mobile (manned or unmanned) platforms to end users, and vice versa from operations centres to field assets
– ergonomic and user-friendly wireless mobile communication tools

E) Information acquisition and fusion
CHALLENGE: management of an increasing volume of data, aggregation and fusion of data from different sources, real-time information acquisition
– real-time and near real-time text/data mining methods for processing vast amount of heterogeneous data
– utilisation of new sources of information (e.g., online news, social media) for intelligence gathering and situational awareness
– techniques for data/information fusion (text, video, images, etc.) in real or close to real time
– intelligence-based risk assessment, threat classification and vulnerability assessment models

Please note that space is limited, and exhibitors will be selected on a first-come-first-served basis and in a way that ensures balanced representation of the specific areas listed above. In particular, preference will be given to the most innovative solutions that can be demonstrated “live” at the event. Limited seats are available for attendance only to researchers and industrial participants (not more than one person per institution), who do not exhibit during the conference.

Attendance is free of charge, however, participants are asked to cover the cost of their accommodation and shipment/installation of their exhibits. The installation of the equipment can be done the day before the event, namely on 22 May 2013. Catering during the event will be provided.